Saturday, January 17, 2009

Old petition names 249 Powell Valley settlers

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Miller McDonald's book Campbell County Tennessee USA: A History of Places, Faces, Happenings, Traditions, and Things

Transcribed by Mildred Collins Wasser

In 1813, just seven years after Campbell County was established, a petition was filed with the house of Representatives of the Tennessee State Legislature to change the location of the county seat at Jacksborough.

The petition contained 249 names and was filed to locate the county seat closer to the Claiborne County line. The petitioners complained that, "They said seat having been unjustly settled within four miles.of Anderson County, where as the distance to.Claiborne County is seventeen miles."

No doubt the petitioners were mostly, if not all, located in Powell's Valley. The petition was referred to committee and went nowhere. It is significant, however, by revealing that in 1813 there were 249 residents of Powell Valley wanting to bring the county seat closer to them. Most importantly to us it shows the names of some of the early settlers in the area. The reader may want to look at the names listed on the petition to identify ancestors who were among the county's earliest residents.

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Mary Edwards who married Joseph White, George Cannon, and then Charles Barber Taylor. You can read about her here => http://ancestorslivehere.blogspot.com/2011/03/fearless-females-day-one-favorite.html

Melungeons, Footprints from the Past

Jack Goins' new book is out!

Stat

Melungeons, Footprints from the Past

Stony Creek

The first written record of the word Melungin is recorded in the 1813 minutes of Stony Creek Church. "Then came forward sister Kitchens and complained to the church against Susanna Stallard for saying she harbored them Melungins"

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Mahala Mullin"s Cabin

Originally located on Newman Ridge, since moved to Vardy and restored.

Blackwater Creek, Vardy Valley, Hancock County Tennessee

You must know that within ten miles of this owl's nest, there is a watering-place, known hereabouts as 'black-water Springs.' It is situated in a narrow gorge, scarcely half a mile wide, between Powell's Mountain and the Copper Ridge, and is, as you may suppose, almost inaccessible. A hundred men could defend the pass against even a Xerxian army. Now this gorge and the tops and sides of the adjoining mountains are inhabited by a singular species of the human animal called MELUNGENS. The legend of their history, which they carefully preserve, is this. A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese Adventurers, men and women. Littell's Living Age 1848